India – a signatory to the ITER project

ITER .. what’s that you ask ?? Well ITER — OR International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) has been in the planning and development stages for more than ten years; it is well supported by most of the world’s leading countries that include the U.S., China, India, Russia, Japan, South Korea and the European Union.

The key concept behind the ITER project is “to establish an experimental fusion reactor that seeks to emulate the power of the sun“. The project will cost €10bn ($13bn, £7bn), will take 10-years, and will be built in the south of France. If all goes well, the first commercial power from fusion reactors should be available around 2045.

Fusion research has so far used far more energy than it has generated, however if successful here is what it aims to accomplish.

ITER would fuse atomic nuclei at extremely high temperatures inside a giant electromagnetic ring to produce electricity from a fusion reaction.

• Deuterium, the major fuel required to operate the reactor, will be extracted from seawater
• The project is expected to result in inexhaustible and cheap supplies of energy
• Fusion power plants will not generate greenhouse gases or any other gases that harm the environment
• Critics, however, doubt its viability and say it will be at least 50 years before any commercially viable reactor can be built

An initial forecast for the construction of the 500 MW reactor is cost about $6.41 billion and take 10 years to complete.

More about the ITER project here, here and here.

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